{"id":52710,"date":"2026-02-11T16:57:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=52710"},"modified":"2026-02-11T17:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:00:04","slug":"review-turnpike-troubadours-mgm-music-hall-2-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2026\/02\/11\/review-turnpike-troubadours-mgm-music-hall-2-7\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Turnpike Troubadours @ MGM Music Hall 2\/7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: David McClister<\/span><\/p>\n

Review by Kat Harmon<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking past the inherently summery Fenway Park in the middle of Boston\u2019s latest single-digit snowfall is in and of itself a disarming experience. And yet, I still found myself unprepared for the near Bacchinalian experience of seeing the Turnpike Troubadours at MGM Music Hall this past Saturday. As the perfect antidote to a city suffering from weeks of cabin fever, \u201cThe Price of Admission\u201d tour served as a hearty, homespun reminder of brighter and warmer times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Earl Keen, the Turnpike Troubadours\u2019 opener for their first three tour dates, was already on stage by the time I got out of the coat check line, sitting center stage throughout his hour-long opening set. I\u2019m used to openers speeding through their allotted twenty-minute slots, so Keen\u2019s methodical stroll through his discography was surprisingly refreshing. Keen\u2019s generous hour-long set was a show of respect, it seems, from Troubadours’ lead singer Evan Felker, who considers Keen to be \u201cbigger than Willie Nelson.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed the palpable excitement in the crowd almost right away, though very little of it was directed at Keen\u2019s set. Friends loudly reunited in the pit, and couples took turns pushing through the crowd to the bar, all seemingly just waiting for the Troubadours to take the stage. Everyone was talking or moving throughout Keen\u2019s set, and he and the band noticed. Their set had a sort of \u201cgrin and bear it\u201d air usually reserved for cover bands at dive bars. However, this doesn\u2019t mean they had a bad set in the slightest. Keen\u2019s music expertly walks the line between typical well-wrought country ballads\u2014 with lyrics about long roads and small towns\u2014 and some more bluegrass-y instrumental tracks. The audience woke up for a few of Keen\u2019s more famous songs. \u201cGood morning, ladies and gentlemen,\u201d he said with a chuckle as they sang along to \u201cFeelin\u2019 Good Again\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The son of a cowboy and a nurse in rural Oklahoma, Evan Felker started the Troubadours in 2005 after he relocated to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Felker is in league with other new country singer-songwriters like Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, bringing the modern country landscape from the formulaic pop-country era to somewhere more grounded and heartfelt. There are hints of that country lyrical tradition\u2014 some lyrics in \u201cGin, Smoke, Lies\u201d feel a little Keith-Urban-esque\u2014 but Felker works in his personal struggles with sobriety, divorce, and a blue-collar life. Felker\u2019s down-to-earth lyrics are what really pull people into the Troubadours\u2019 songs, as they feel like a breath of fresh air for anyone whose idea of country is limited to tired \u201ctrucks, girls, and beer\u201d songs. For New Englanders, especially, it\u2019s a glimpse into life in the Southwest without the underlying fear of supporting any less-than-savory political beliefs. Whatever the reason, Boston certainly shows out for the Troubadours.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crowd is spirited during (though not because of) the opener, but things really get rowdy once the Troubadours take the stage. Though to say that the crowd was rowdy<\/span> feels like an understatement. Felker stops the show three times for fights breaking out. I heard multiple people around me comment how they\u2019ve never been to a show stopped for one fight, let alone three. \u201cWelcome to Boston,\u201d Felker quipped after the second stop. Felker dutifully chided the audience to \u201cdo a little taking care of one another,\u201d but he and the band grinned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Turnpike Troubadours met the audience\u2019s hyperactivity, catapulting through high-energy numbers like \u201cMean Old Sun\u201d and \u201cBefore the Devil Knows We\u2019re Dead.\u201d It was clear that the audience members knew every word. During \u201cThe Bird Hunters,\u201d the crowd yelled \u201cgo back to Cherokee County,\u201d a lyric from the song, so loud I almost took it as a command. I wouldn\u2019t necessarily call Bostonians reserved people, but it felt like something was let loose at MGM Music Hall that night. People two-stepped with their partners and spun them around, often into other two-stepping couples. I made unfortunate eye contact with a middle-aged woman near the back who looked a little possessed as she shimmied through \u201cGood Lord Lorrie.\u201d A surprisingly touching camaraderie emerged amid cartoonish \u201cyee-haws\u201d and drunken apologies from the fans. Turnpike Troubadours bring light to the dark and mundane corners of American life, and encourage their audience to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stream Turnpike Troubadours\u2019 newest album, \u201cThe Price of Admission,\u201d anywhere music is found. Follow the band at @turnpiketroubadours<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: David McClister Review by Kat Harmon Walking past the inherently summery Fenway Park in the middle of Boston\u2019s latest single-digit snowfall is in and of itself a disarming experience. And yet, I still found myself unprepared for the near Bacchinalian experience of seeing the Turnpike Troubadours at MGM Music Hall this past Saturday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25732,"featured_media":52711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[33,327,1920,2646],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25732"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52713,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52710\/revisions\/52713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}